Detroit Connecting Rare Sight on
The Detroit Connecting Railroad is pulling across Conant Street and into Canadian National’s East Yard in Hamtramck, Mich., where interchange is conducted. DCON No. 4 was being used for a few days in early October while the normally assigned unit, Adrian & Blissfield No. 836, was sidelined temporarily for maintenance. No. 4 is a General Electric 65-tonner originally built for Detroit Edison in 1942. A subsidiary of Adrian & Blissfield, DCON began operations in 1988 over 2.5 miles of former Grand Trunk Western track connecting with the Canadian National.
PHOTOS BY STEVE DAVEY
CANADIAN SHORTLINES GLENN COURTNEY
New Propane Terminal for Ontario Southland In late September, OSR started serv-
ing a newly constructed propane distri- bution facility in Putnam, Ont. The new terminal, operated by NGL Supply Co., Ltd., can spot up to ten cars at a time, and is expected to unload up to 500 cars a year.
New Brunswick Southern
Heavy rains in southern New Bruns-
wick on September 30 caused New Brunswick Southern Railway to suspend operations as a precautionary measure. Flooding damage closed the McAdam Subdivision for several days. HLCX GP38-2s 906, 911, 913, and 917 have been purchased by New Brunswick Southern Railway.
New Power for CMQ Central
Maine & Quebec
Cando Rail Services
Shortline operator and switching con- tractor Cando has purchased three lo- comotives from Rail Trusts Equipment Inc. Former Grand Trunk Western GP38 4994 has been upgraded to Dash-3 stan- dards and renumbered to CCGX 4201. Former Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range SD38ACs 200 and 202 will become CCGX 5202 and 5201.
IOWA INTERSTATE DAVE SCHAUER
First Unit Potash Train
The first unit potash train from Cana- da was received by Iowa Interstate from Canadian Pacific during early Octo- ber. The 104-car unit train from Yarbo, Sask., moved as CP Train 690-335. IAIS received the train at Moline on October 3, and it departed Silvis, Ill., the next day. Train totals for the SIPE 04 (Sil- vis-Peoria, Illinois) were 104 loads, zero empties, and 13,973 tons.
has
purchased ten SD40-2F locomotives from Canadian Pacific, including 9004, 9010, 9011, 9014, 9017, and 9020-9024. The “Red Barns,” so called for their red color and long hood cowls, began moving off CP to CMQ late in September with the first one, No. 9022, arriving in Farnham, Que., on October 1. CMQ purchased the former Montreal, Maine & Atlantic system from the bankruptcy estate in 2014, and has been steadily rebuilding the traffic base ever since.
12 DECEMBER 2015 •
RAILFAN.COM
IRON ORE ROADS DAVE SCHAUER
Former Missabe Route During the week of October 5, Cana-
CTC Upgrade for
dian National activated CTC along its Missabe Subdivision in Minnesota be- tween North Alborn and North Kelsey, leaving just a short six-mile segment to milepost 51 yet to be converted. As part of this signal upgrade, the former DM&IR code line is being removed, thus
opening up a number of photo oppor- tunities. CN has also been busy on the Iron Range Subdivision with an eight- hour work block Monday through Friday for tie and rail replacement. The large double-track project on Steelton Hill in western Duluth continued its rapid pace as the second track was awaiting ballast and tamping in mid-October.
BNSF Railway More possible bad news for U.S.
Steel’s Keewatin Taconite operation in Minnesota materialized when it was an- nounced in early October that the steel firm is planning to suspend operations at its Granite City, Ill., mill near St. Louis. The steelmaker may idle the steel plant in December as part of a consoli- dation of its North American flat-rolled operations. The Granite City mill is a prime sup- plier of steel to U.S. Steel’s Lone Star Tubular plant in Texas, which makes pipe for the oil industry. Keewatin Tac- onite is served by BNSF and has been shuttered since spring, with U.S. Steel’s nearby Minntac mine supplying Granite City with iron ore. Keewatin had been the primary source of iron ore for the Fairfield and Granite City mills; with the former’s blast furnace permanently closed this fall and with Granite City be- ing put on standby status, the future of the mine is in doubt.
Lake Superior & Ishpeming
On October 6, Cliffs Natural Resourc- es, owner of Lake Superior & Ishpeming, announced that it had terminated its
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